TVA Board Meets In Memphis

The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors conducted its quarterly meeting Thursday in Memphis, where TVA’s largest customer, Memphis Light, Gas & Water, is celebrating 75 years of service.

“TVA takes pride in being a partner with MLGW,” said Bill Johnson, TVA president and CEO. “MLGW is a leader in the Tennessee Valley in encouraging its consumers to make their homes more energy efficient.”

MLGW, the largest of 155 local power companies served by TVA, is partnering with TVA on a home energy efficiency program called eScore. The program can help consumers save money on their power bills and also help TVA avoid the need and related costs for more generating capacity, Mr. Johnson explained.

In addition, MLGW brokered a partnership between TVA and the City of Memphis where TVA takes methane from the city’s wastewater treatment facility and burns it at the Allen Fossil Plant along with coal.

Mr. Johnson said that in the first half of the current fiscal year, TVA’s partnerships with its customers, Valley communities, and states, have helped create and retain 33,000 jobs. This represents a capital investment of $5.2 billion in the Tennessee Valley.

The board recognized outgoing Chairman Bill Sansom for his service to TVA, the board, and the 9 million people of the Tennessee Valley. “Bill has provided steady leadership to guide TVA through changing and challenging times since 2006,” said Joe Ritch, incoming chairman. “He was the first chairman to lead the board after it was restructured by Congress from three full-time directors to a more corporate-like body of nine part-time directors working with TVA’s first chief executive officer.”

Mr. Sansom has served two terms on the TVA board and has been elected chairman three times. During his tenure, Mr. Sansom guided development of TVA’s land policy, approved completion of the Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2, adopted TVA’s environmental policy, helped set TVA’s strategic direction for cleaner, lower-cost power, championed improved generation fleet health, and led the charge to put TVA on a more sustainable financial path.

“Bill has dedicated a great many hours to his board service,” Mr. Ritch said. “I am honored to be following in his footsteps and will do my utmost to keep the positive momentum Bill started going strong.”

During the meeting, the board approved an extension of the Day & Zimmermann NPS contract for work on TVA’s nuclear fleet for $350 million; heard from Chief Financial Officer John Thomas that net income was up and operations and maintenance costs down for the first six months of the fiscal year; and that Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2 is on budget and on track to become the nation’s first new nuclear generation of the 21st century in 2015.

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